adventures in handspinning: a plying study

a rookie mistake turned into an opportunity to experiment...

in my attempt to spin a thin and light singles yarn, i ended up with a gorgeous strand of under-spun merino that simply fell apart in my hands. abandoning my original plans for a nice laceweight singles yarn, i just knew it had to be either re-spun to add twist, or plied.

first i tried plying with a commercial yarn, but it was just too strong for this lofty little strand of merino, so i ended up plying it with itself. since i hadn't planned on plying it originally, i hadn't made any attempt to wind two even bobbins: instead i had one full bobbin (about 3 ounces) and one with the remainder (about an ounce). so i thought, why not use it to practice a couple of different plying techniques?



one yarn, plied two ways

 

bottom: chain-ply
top: 2-ply



i'd spun a few 2-ply yarns, but hadn't yet attempted a 3-ply. i decided to use this single to try both and compare them. i used about half of it to spin a 2-ply yarn from the two bobbins, then when the small bobbin was gone i used the rest of the larger bobbin to chain ply a 3-ply yarn.



since the yarn was a low-twist to begin with,
the 2-py yarn remained soft and fluffy.
360 yards, 15-16 wpi



the chain-ply (aka navajo ply) produced a firmer,
rounder yarn with more distinct colors.
205 yards, 11-12 wpi



this study needs one more step: how different will these yarns look once they're worked up? i admit i prefer the look of the chain ply when the yarns are in hanks, but i'm not sure how the short stripes will be laid out in a finished item. the mottled look of the 2-ply yarn is easier to predict.

the chain-ply technique is something that i've been wanting to try. it was pretty easy to get the hang of the concept and keep up a consistent rhythm with the wheel. i hadn't prepared the fiber for chain plying, pre-drafting the fiber quite a bit, so the color stripes will be short.

my next yarn will have longer sections of color as i do a bit of pre-drafting but still try to maintain smooth color changes. the FatCatKnits featured fiber colorway for the month of August 2011 is Spinach Souffle. i grabbed myself 8 ounces of it for this chain ply project. i think it'll be a dk or worsted weight.